I am sure some of you have noticed the recent changes to Facebook Fan Pages that you can now post comments on other people's pages as your fan page. I like the concept I am not sure I like the execution. In order to post on or tag another Fan page you seemingly have to become a fan of that page all over again which is rather annoying when all you want to do is tag them in a status update or post on their wall.
Here is the complicated part. If I want to tag a fan page in a status update on Two Little Cavaliers (TLC) I have to click that I like their page all over again which add several extra steps to creating status updates now. The fact that you now "like" this other fan page now shows up on the sidebar of your Facebook Fan Page for everyone to see as if you made this other page a favorite when you simply like their page. This isn't a problem necessarily for anipals who just want to have fun and hang out but if I "like" a products fan page because I have been asked to so by a Review and Giveaway sponsor so that I can tag them to let their fans know about the Giveaway so they can enter they are potentially getting a ton of free advertising by appearing as a favorite of ours when that is not really the intention at all. Facebook is eye candy every page looks the same so it is very easy to navigate. Once you figure something out once it is the same across all of Facebook. So if you see that we have a "favorite" treat or food or toy chances are you will want to check out their Facebook page to see what it is all about.
I do see the possibility of companies taking advantage of this "faux" favorite status when it comes to social media influence-rs. And it is only a "faux" status because the page you just liked using your fan page didn't actually increase in the number of likes they now have. Ok so that might be a little confusing. Let me try to make this less complicated. Say I want to join the conversation on the Life with Dogs (LwD) Fan Page as Two Little Cavaliers (TLC). The first thing I have to do is click the "like" button. Ok done. Now LwD shows up on the TLC fan page as a "faux" favorite. However the number of "likes" on the LwD fan page does not go up (as long as you are already a fan using your profile). So you all know Life with Dogs isn't a faux favorite that we really do love them which is why I chose to use them as our example.
In general though it is sort of an underhanded way for companies to have their brand and products suggested to hundreds of thousands of people in a slightly underhanded way. What do you all think about this change and what it means?